This axis brings together 3 places where this verse is used in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
The verse text as cited
HE is the One who sent among the unlettered a messenger from among themselves … and teaches them the Book and wisdom
Brief reading
The verse is used to clarify the meaning of illiteracy as cultural illiteracy, and to emphasize that wisdom is a general divine teaching, not an independent Sunna.
Axes
- Linguistic and semantic
- Narrative and historical
- Methodological
Related concepts
- Wisdom: 2
- Cultural illiteracy: 2
- The unlettered: 2
Its place in the network of concepts
It connects the linguistic signification of the terms with the construction of a conceptual framework in the reading.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Support: 3
Usage instances
- The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna, p. 49: He makes it the conclusion to restricting the occurrences of wisdom in the Qur’an, in preparation for defining it as a general divine teaching, not an independent Sunna.
- Concept: wisdom
- Function of the verse here: support
- Textual evidence: “And its last occurrence is in His saying, Exalted be He: {He is the One who sent among the unlettered a messenger… and teaches them the Book and wisdom…} (Friday 2).”
- Qur’anic Narrative vol. 1, p. 25: He uses it to prove that illiteracy here means ignorance of the People of the Book’s scriptures, not ignorance of reading and writing.
- Concept: cultural illiteracy
- Function of the verse here: support
- Textual evidence: “God has described in His Book the society of revelation as unlettered. He says: {HE is the One who sent among the unlettered a messenger from among themselves …} (Friday: 2).”
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 124: He relies on it to state that the unlettered are those who do not belong to Judaism and Christianity, not merely those who cannot read or write.
- Concept: the unlettered
- Function of the verse here: support
- Textual evidence: “{HE is the One who sent among the unlettered a messenger from among themselves…} (Friday 2).”
Related books
- The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna
- Qur’anic Narrative vol. 1
- The Book and the Qur’an
This page is presented within the general method of building the atlas.